Conventionally, as listed below, a device and a method for applying a functional fluid material disclosed in Patent Document 1: JP2004-154733A, or a connector for fluid, an application device, etc. which are disclosed in Patent Document 2: JP2007-275769A, are used for applications in which fluid, such as sealing agent or adhesive, is applied at an automobile assembly plant etc. The application device according to Patent Document 1 is comprised of an application unit and a refilling unit. In this application device, the application unit has a discharge gun which discharges the functional fluid material, and a feeder which supplies the functional fluid material to the discharge gun. The refilling unit refills the functional fluid material from a refilling port to a refilling tube part. By adopting such a structure, a long-distance piping for supplying the functional fluid material to the discharge gun is no longer necessary, and a significant shortening of piping length is achieved, and a temperature adjusting device for temperature control of the fluid material and a fluid-feeding pump are made necessary minimum.
Purposes of the fluid connector and the application device which are disclosed in Patent Document 2 are also to eliminate a large-scale piping installation for supplying the fluid from a tank to a discharger, and a high-pressure pump for carrying the fluid, similar to Patent Document 1. The conventional art of Patent Document 2 is provided with first to third feeding parts for supplying the fluid, such as sealing agent, and first to third dischargers, which are detachably attached to the respective first to third feeding parts etc. via fluid connectors. The first to third dischargers have tanks for storing the fluid supplied from the feeding parts to which the first to third dischargers are attached, respectively, and are dischargeable of the fluid from the tanks. The first to third dischargers are attachable and detachable to/from an arm of a robot via a second connector, respectively.
As described above, various discharge systems are provided in which the discharging device for discharging the discharge fluid and the refilling device for refilling the discharging device with the fluid are provided so as to be connectable and disconnectable, and the fluid is refillable from the refilling device side to the discharging device side by connecting both the devices.
Here, when the fluid is refilled by connecting the discharging device to the refilling device via couplers such as plugs, there is a possibility that the fluid is adhered not only to a coupler provided on the refilling device side but also to a coupler provided on the discharging device side. After refilling the fluid is finished, the discharging device operates at locations, for example, above a workpiece to which the fluid is discharged or close to the workpiece. Thus, if much fluid is adhered to the coupler on the discharging device side, there is a concern such that the adhered fluid may be unexpectedly fallen onto the workpiece resulting in a degradation of a quality of the workpiece. Therefore, in the discharge system as described above, an adhered amount of the fluid to the coupler on the discharging device side during the refilling operation of the fluid to the discharging device is desirable to be smaller than an adhered amount of the fluid to the coupler on the refilling device side. However, in the conventional art, no consideration is made in terms of such a point of view.
Thus, one purpose of the present invention is to provide a discharge system that can reduce an adhered amount of fluid to a coupler on a discharging device side to be smaller than an adhered amount of the fluid to a coupler on a refilling device side during a refilling operation of the fluid to the discharging device.